June 29, 2011

New Word Wednesday #22

Capricious
[ca·pri·cious]

- adjective
- Characterized by or subject to whim

June 27, 2011

June 25, 2011

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

My Savannah post got me thinking about all the places I've been so I created a map. I was surprised by how many states I haven't spent some quality time in - I have some traveling to do!

Places I've been outside the US:
  • Mexico: Cancun, Costa Maya, Mazatlan, Play del Carmen, Puerto Vallarta and Juarez
  • Caribbean: Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Disney's Castaway Cay
Clearly I need to work in more warm weather destinations!

Places I want to visit in the US:

June 22, 2011

New Word Wednesday #22

Precipice

- a very steep or overhanging place
- a hazardous situation; broadly: brink

June 21, 2011

College Visit

This is Minnesota Private Colleges week and I offered to take Sassy to two colleges of her choice for visits. She's thinking she will likely attend the big university, but I wanted her to see what else was out there. She decided to check out my current grad school which of course I'm partial to, but I suspect she did so just to appease me. We sat through an info session, asked questions of a student/faculty panel and toured the campus, including a dorm room. It's an all girl school and it was clear that weighed heavy on a lot of girls' minds. I find it appealing actually - not because I'm a prude, but because I went to an all girl high school and had an awesome experience. Well, the last two years anyway. We learned that all girl college students are more likely to graduate in four years, more likely to attend graduate school and more likely to have leadership roles in their careers. Turns out Sassy loved it! I'm having a minor coronary over the $30,000+ a year tuition, but nothing says love like saddling your child with debt as they head into the big, wide world. She has aspirations of being a pre-med major, but I know the vast majority of those who declare pre-med don't go on to become MDs. St. Kate's has two unique degrees in Healthcare Sales and Orthoptics - these may be right up Sassy's alley and I saw her write these down on her note card. We visit the "U" next month and it will be interesting to see what she thinks of it in comparison to being a Katie.

June 19, 2011

Dads Rock

Hubby is getting this shirt (with Sassy & Chunkys' names of course) along with a celebratory dinner - our famous kabobs and angel food cake + fruit topping - for Father's Day.

Hats off to all great dads - those with us as well as those who have gone before.

June 18, 2011

Savannah

I'm in a southern state of mind lately. I read this post yesterday and could immediately relate. Savannah, Georgia is one of my most favorite places on earth - granted I'm not a world traveler so my experience is somewhat limited - but of the places I've been, Savannah is in my top 5. It oozes southern charm and evokes a simpler time. My first visit was in 2004 with my mom and the kids. I went back with my BFF four years ago to celebrate our monumental birthdays. I want to go back again ... soon!

I love cemeteries and Savannah does not disappoint -


This is one of my favorite photos of Sassy taken outside Juliette Gordon Low's home (founder of the Girl Scouts of America) -


The Lady & Sons restaurant - I can still taste the amazing ho cakes - Yum!


My mom and kids in front of the Gryphon Tea Room - beautiful inside and out!


Tybee Island -


Definitely add Savannah to your travel bucket list!

June 16, 2011

Alabama

Some interesting facts about the fair state -
  • Alabama introduced the Mardi Gras to the western world.
  • Alabama workers built the first rocket to put humans on the moon.
  • Alabama is the only state with all major natural resources needed to make iron and steel. It is also the largest supplier of cast-iron and steel pipe products.
  • Montgomery is the capital and the birthplace of the Confederate States of America.
  • The Confederate flag was designed and first flown in Alabama in 1861.
  • Alabama became the 22nd state on December 14, 1819.
  • Baseball player Henry Louis (Hank) Aaron was born in Mobile in 1934.
  • Baseball player Willie Howard Mays was born in Westfield in 1931.
  • Huntsville is known as the rocket capital of the World.
  • In 1902 Dr. Luther Leonidas Hill performed the first open heart surgery in the Western Hemisphere by suturing a stab wound in a young boy's heart. The surgery occurred in Montgomery.
  • Hitler's typewriter survived from his mountain retreat and is exhibited at the Hall of History in Bessemer.
  • The pecan is the official nut.
  • People from Alabama are called Alabamians.
  • On January 11, 1861 Alabama becomes the fourth state to secede from the Union.
  • Tallulah Bankhead was born in Huntsville in 1902 and died in 1968.
  • Singer and entertainer Nathaniel Adams (Nat King) Cole was born in Montgomery in 1919 and died in 1965.
  • The Birmingham Airport opened in 1931. At the time of the opening a Birmingham to Los Angeles flight took 19 hours.
  • General Andrew Jackson defeated the Creek Indians in 1814. Following the event the Native Americans ceded nearly half the present state land to the United States.
  • At the Battle of Mobile Bay Admiral David Farragut issued his famous command, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." The event occurred on August 5, 1864.

June 15, 2011

New Word Wednesday #21

Antebellum
[an-tee-bel-uhm] – adjective
before or existing before the war, especially the American civil war

In honor of my being in Birmingham, Alabama today and tomorrow (work trip).

Ya'll come back now, hear?

June 14, 2011

Saints

No, this isn't a post about Christian holy people. It's about our local minor league baseball team. The coach of Chunky's team arranged a great experience last night - not only did we attend a Saints game, but Chunky's team got to meet the players, warm up with them AND have their names announced while they ran onto the field with the player in their respective positions. Chunky was waaaaaay out in the outfield, but I could tell he was super psyched to be on an official league ball field singing our national anthem. The experience cost me a small fortune between the foam finger, hat, brat, cheese curds, soda and coffee (it was chilly here), but it was a lot of fun. The Saints played a good game against the Lincoln, NE Saltdogs though we left at the middle of the 7th inning because it was 9:30pm and mama needs her beauty rest. Bad!

June 11, 2011

National Pastime

I spend a lot of time at baseball fields these days. Unfortunately I am not a huge fan. I should be - I need to work on that. Chunky is doing well - he's a great hitter - outfield could use a little work.

To prove I am not known for my photography skills, here is a photo of Chunky running into home (to the left of #14) -


My kid is an amazon at age 11 (#7) -


More extreme temps as it barely got above 60 degrees two days after we had a record high and hubby was in full hoodie mode -

June 8, 2011

Extremes

It was a record breaking 103 degrees in the arctic yesterday. What?! Where is some of that heat (just a little) on days like this or this?! The sad thing is I'm at work freezing from the air conditioning so am drinking hot coffee to warm up.

Speaking of extremes - my brother and Sassy turned me on to The Big Bang Theory. Sassy and I are starting with season 1 and are not to be disturbed for three hours straight as we watch the latest six episodes from Netflix every three or four days. Nothing says summer like a new TV series obsession. Come to think of it, that's our obsession in winter too.

New Word Wednesday #20

Unfettered

- adjective
- unrestrained
- As in I do not subscribe to Facebook as I am concerned about their unfettered access to my data and what they will do with it

June 6, 2011

Heart Walk

Sassy and I participated in the annual Twin Cities Heart Walk at Target Field (home to the Minnesota Twins) this past weekend. We didn't exactly walk - as the heat was blistering by 11:30 when the walk finally kicked off. Never ceases to amaze me how blasted cold it can get here in the winter and how hot it can get in the summer I donated to the cause and we participated in the festivities to honor my father who died of a heart attack at age 55 and my father-in-law who sufffered from heart disease most of his adult life. Did you know cardiovascular disease is the #1 killer of Amercians, including all cancers?

We went with my friend MPB and her adorable daughter. MPB used to work for my company but abandoned me a couple of months ago. I'm not bitter or anything My company was a sponsor so we had a booth with stress balls that looked like baseballs.

This is Sassy and MPB's Peanut selecting which balls to throw at the crowd.

This is my friend Heidi from Marketing and Michael from Finance. Michael is from Ghana (great accent!) and helped me with my Finance homework (love him!).


Me and Sassy self portrait -

June 5, 2011

Ramblings II

I'm upset with Playlist for two reasons: 1) The auto start function isn't working so you have to click play at the bottom to start the music. Annoying! Doesn't the advancement of technology enable things to just happen instead of having to do all that work yourself? Sheesh! and b) They've added advertisements. Rude! I am in search of a suitable replacement, but it's going to take some work.

I woke at 6:52 this morning, started laundry, fed the cat, let the dogs out, heated left over coffee from yesterday, cleaned the bathroom and baked two loaves of banana bread. I'm tired and it's only 11 am. I have about two hours of "work" work to do and I'm procrastinating.

We went out with our friends who are getting married next summer (the Zs) to a local Japanese restaurant, Saji Ya, for temppanyaki last weekend. The girls had Mai Tais (amazing tasting and strong!) and the cook put on a great show for us. He moved so fast I couldn't catch some of his best moves on my phone camera - like the flaming onion "volcano".







I miss Glee. Thank goodness Hot in Cleveland is back June 15th, Drop Dead Diva starts June 19th, True Blood kicks off June 26th, and Weeds & The Big C return June 27th. You're welcome for your summer TV viewing schedule Project Runway is scheduled to start sometime this summer - evidently the actual start date is a closely guarded secret as I can't find it anywhere on the almighty web.

June 4, 2011

Had to share

I'm waaaaay behind in reading my favorite blogs. I haven't been to PDub's site in quite some time and when I stumbled upon this Memorial Day post during last night's marathon catch-up session I just had to share.

June 3, 2011

We can

If you have it to give, give

That was advice given to me by a former coworker / boss who made a significant impact on my life. He was my cube mate at a job I started when Sassy was two years old and just a few months prior to my starting he and his wife lost triplet girls during premature birth. Very sad. They turned that experience into something amazing though by starting an annual charity golf tournament to benefit the neonatal unit of a local hospital. He always told me if you have it to give, give. Those words have stuck with me and we have given to various causes over the years. Of course there are other ways beside money to give - time and talent. I volunteer time at church and school, though not as much as I should. The talent part is questionable when it comes to running the kitchen for the annual school fundraiser, but I do what I can.

I started writing a post a couple of months ago about one of Chunky's friends, D. I abandoned the post because it was borne out of frustration with D's parent and I didn't think it fair. D is a friendly, polite and kind hearted boy. He lives with his parent and two siblings, all are half-siblings. To say they don't have much is putting it mildly. D's parent has a habit of calling us on the pretense of D hanging out with Chunky which inevitably turns into our taking him in for days. I don't like being manipulated or taken advantage of. And I'm a planner. Spontaneous play dates that turn into full on weekends are not how I roll. I haven't even mentioned the best part - the calls are always melodramatic with some over-the-top trauma or "opportunity". My personal favorite was the call to ask if D could come over in a couple of hours because his parent had an opportunity to go to a nearby casino as an overnight guest and they thought it would be awesome if the boys could hang out. Yeah, awesome ... that's the word I'd use. We received a call the other night that there was a family trauma and the parent needed to find a temporary home for the kids for a couple of days. Each of the kids was to go to a different home and they didn't have anyone to take in D. My first reaction was to say "no". I'm sure the generous, Christian response would have been to immediately say "of course". Well now you know my truth - I'm not a great Christian or that generous. I said I needed to speak with hubby first as I wasn't 100% sure what our plans were other than a charity walk. When I spoke with Hubby he reminded me of the giving mantra. We have the space and means, he's a great friend to Chunky and he really is a great kid. Besides, it may be good for him to be in a different environment. So tonight D arrived at our house in a taxi cab with bicycle, small backpack and his baseball glove. We will treat him like one of our own while he's here. Because we can and we have it to give.

June 1, 2011

New Word Wednesday #19

Mendicant

- noun
- person asking for charity
- Synonyms: asker, borrower, beggar, bum, deadbeat, scrounger, supplicant, supplicator

More on why I chose this word in my next post.